Dragonborn:The Ebony Warrior

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Upon reaching level 80 a mysterious warrior wearing a full suit of ebony armor will approach you in any major city and challenge you to a duel at his Last Vigil. The quest will then update to give his location, a camp northeast of Fort Greenwall. The Ebony Warrior will not attack you when approached, and will not speak. He will simply stand, brandishing his sword as a clear invitation. You must initiate the attack for the battle to begin. Make sure that you are prepared for one serious fight. It is advised to wear the strongest armor you can get and have plenty of potions at the ready. You may want to bring a follower as well.

The Ebony Warrior is arguably one of the toughest enemies in the game. He has the Heavy Armor perk Reflect Blows, giving him a 10% chance of reflecting all melee damage, which is particularly dangerous if you attempt to dispatch him from close range. He also has a 50% resistance to fire, frost, and shock, and equipment which gives him further resistance to frost and shock. This makes him difficult if you tend to primarily use magic. While he can be harmed by falling damage, you must damage him after he lands but before he stands back up for the damage to take effect. Otherwise, he can survive any fall and will actually be restored to full health after he gets back on his feet.

Whatever your tactics, once you have defeated the Ebony Warrior, the quest will conclude and you may loot his body for his fully enchanted set of equipment and many other treasures.

Upon being killed, despite being a Redguard, the Ebony Warrior will say "At last, Sovngarde."

The Ebony Warrior is the only non-Nord NPC capable of using certain dragon shouts in combat. These shouts include Unrelenting Force, which may easily knock you off the edge of the cliffs nearby. Watching one's own placement during the battle is recommended.

You don't have to fight the Ebony Warrior at the Last Vigil. You can fight him when you first meet him at any city. Beware the guards however.

Since the Ebony Warrior does not attack until he is attacked, if you have the Assassin's Blade perk, you can sneak behind him and easily kill him with a good enchanted dagger.

The Ebony Warrior is also not immune to poison (merely 50% resistant, like any other Redguard). You can use a strong poison (for example, one derived from jarrin root) to slay him quickly.

If you run up the hill past the dead Frost Troll, the Ebony Warrior can get stuck behind one of the low rocks as he pursues you.

A warrior in Ebony tried to talk to me on the streets of <alias=StartCity>.

Objective 10: Talk to the Ebony Warrior

100

A warrior in ebony mail approached me in <alias=StartCity>. He has challenged me to fight him at his last vigil, wherever that is.

Objective 100: Meet the Ebony Warrior at the Last Vigil

200

I have defeated the Ebony Warrior. May his soul find rest in Sovngarde.

The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 5.

Notes

Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.

Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.

Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.

If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.

On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage DLC2EbonyWarriorQuest stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest DLC2EbonyWarriorQuest.